


Routine stuff

by yy0543



Category: Tenet (2020)
Genre: Hawaii, Kissing, M/M, Morning Routines, Rain, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-02
Updated: 2020-10-03
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:42:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,370
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26255839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yy0543/pseuds/yy0543
Summary: Chp1:Rain in Hawaii(Vacation)Chp2:Cube(Morning tea)
Relationships: Neil/The Protagonist (Tenet)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 21





	1. Chapter 1

" Whiskey? "

" Sure, why not? " the protagonist took the glass which is full of expensive wine that he probably doesn't want to know the price, Neil is a person who likes to enjoy life without considering too much, just look at his suit. 

" I'm not sure what the hell happened to the sun. " Neil tried to explain, " When people come to Hawaii, they aspect beach, bikini and sunshine, and yet, we have trapped in our hotel since yesterday. "

" You should check the weather forecast before you come. "

" Too late for reminding me. " Neil laid down, gave him a kiss on the cheek. 

So there we are, trapped in the hotel and the torrential rain outside almost covered their whisper. Neil was bitting his ear slowly and flirtingly, speaking about the physical theory that he wouldn't consider it was romantic until he met Neil. He snipped a little bit of whiskey from the crystal glass and put it on the bedside table. Neil was wearing close-fitting swimming trunks, it will be dull for him if he didn't take any action.

His hand skittered down on Neil’s hip, light as a feather. The dripping sound of the rooftop like an unconventional repertoire, reminded him of the mission in the opera house, they never in the beginning properly, neither do the ending. 

" Fuck ......Fuck me harder!! " 

That was absolutely not him or Neil spoke this. Turned out that this hotel also has another couple who are desperately trapped in the small room and all they can do is fucking. They look at each other embarrassingly and slightly amused, the lady who lives on their upper floor was screaming too much and almost killed their sexual interest. Neil was mumbling and complaining, he never so talkative or impatient before, called the service asked them to upgrade their room to the presidential suite.

It was, kind of his wrong also, he still uneasy about the expensive stuff, the bespoke suit, fine dinner, or private plane. He turned on the television, it was " happy together ". He heard this movie before but never seen it. The unspoken love, smoking, exotic music, and swaying body. Neil laid down, tried to pull on his Hawaiian shirt and shorts. “No need to rush.” he heard he said, and the subsequent moaning on the upstairs refuted his words.

“I will come back as soon as possible.” Neil said, nail grazing against his chest and left a lovely hickey on his neck “Enjoy the movie and tell me the ending later.”


	2. Cube

If loneliness has a specific shape, it must be a cube, and they built the high rise they live in.

The humdrum urban scene keeps running and repeating without an end. There's a man eating his sandwich while waiting for the subway, and a lady who may be rushing out of time hit his shoulder accidentally. Half of the tuna sandwich falls to the floor and the woman even bothers to give a proper apology, her high heel step on the residue, cursing and growling. The subway comes, the man and the woman split up, don't have any temper with each other, that's how it works, bad things happened in the blue Monday, people are tired of complaining. 

He takes a can of Diet Coke, tries to find any nutrients on the shelf. There is a giant inflatable mascot beside the shelf, trying to convince people to buy some high sugar, high calorie, and colourful cereal. He tries to get himself something good enough, like chicken or fruits, plus a salmon too. The market has run a self-service machine for weeks, it's shame that he lose a chance to talk with the cashier. 

Days after days, he lived but no life in this tiny apartment, feeling like left his life somewhere else, maybe in a small room in Massachusetts, decorated with baseballs and medals. He can't recall the details on it, like the wallpaper or the sheet, and his parents and neighbour also, when he tried to recollect his memories deeply, there always has a voice circling in his mind, trying to stop him from exploring those memories. The only thing he remembers is the short term lease with a stranger that he never met before. He spoke to his landlord once, a middle-aged man's voice, tired and exhausted. 

He is eating alone, and opens his Netflix with hoping there are some new spy movies on it, like the John Wick types. It's always too dramatic when you kill your enemies with a tiny, slim pencil, but it is entertaining and feasible in reality, so he is still enjoying it. 

At night, he dreams of lots of things, some real, some fictional, they all mixed together with a chaotic timeline and person. He dreams about someone knocking his door, slowly and patiently, like the door existence is for knocking but not separating people under the name of privacy. He stood inside, watched the normal wooden door and fingerprint lock, the knocking sound reverberate on the corridors, like a black hole which lures and sucks everything included people's soul. The black hole doesn't lure people, they're neutral, he is the one who feels chaotic and unsafe, he is the one who wants to befall. 

The buzzing sound of the handphone waked him, eight in the morning, the sky is shady and cloudy. He cooked himself a chicken breast and beans, slightly better than an airplane meal. After he finished his meal, he hears the knocking sound. 

Is this an illusion of the awful breakfast or what? He opens the door and there is a guy leaning on his door, clearly intoxicated and freezing. If he were a classic city people, he will call the police or security apartment absolutely, but he wasn't, so he pulls out the scarf of the man, there is a familiar face appears. 

"I had been knocking this door the whole night. " Neil mumbles, " And how dare you leave me alone outside of the door, I thought I’m your friend. "

"You should call me. "

"I did, you can check your phone ."

He picks up his phone, 32 missed calls, and a message full of angry emoji. So it wasn't a dream, a gory, mysterious dream about subconscious or Freudian analysis, wasn't about the lonely black hole, it just his friend sitting outside, knocking his door the whole night.

He brews Neil a cup of earl grey, package instead of real tea leaf, only cheap artificial colour and chemicals that cost 5 dollars a box, he can’t come up with the better ones, he is not the one who heeds on materialistic enjoyment, but he will give a better tea for Neil if he has the condition.

“Was it cold outside?” while he heard he said, sound with a slightly guilty coil inside his stomach, “Sugar or milk?”

“Colder than death,” Neil stops him to pour out the milk, “ Just tea will be fine.”

“Another cloudy day, the temperature will spike to the lowest grade ever,” he passed the mug to Neil, he can feel the stiffness of Neil’s finger, which only provoke his guilty again, “You shouldn’t come here, my apartment just right be blocked by another building, there isn’t always sunshine in my apartment.”

“I know, what do you think about how long I stared in the moist on the corridor last night? I truly suggest you change a house, you can afford a better place, can’t you?”

“I’m tired handling the documents, by the way, I don’t stay here for long-term, you know the habit of modern people, we keep changing our habitat, whatever we like it or not.”

“I gave up to convince you.”

“Excellent decision, you want another cup of tea or not?”

“Nope, it tastes really awful, even plain hot water will better than this.”

Maybe the satiety blunted his sensation, he can’t feel anything but the floating dust in the middle-air, stuck with him and Neil. The room is too quiet for two people, all sound faded and only two people’s breath exist, repeat. Neil stretches his back, humming with irregular melody, he doesn’t explain why he’s here. Like an old friend, come to visit you on a casual morning without specific reasons.

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Together is a 1997 Hong Kong romance film directed by Wong Kar-wai


End file.
